A 54-year-old man has been sent to jail for possessing child pornography.

Richard John Emery Fry appeared before Judge Michael Turner today for sentence in the Invercargill District Court.

He had earlier admitted 22 charges of possessing an objectionable publication (laid under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993).

He also admitted driving while disqualified and attempting to drive with a breath alcohol level of 1338mcg in Wanaka on May 12.

He was sentenced to 25 months' jail, disqualified from driving indefinitely and authorised to apply for a three-year zero alcohol licence.

The charges related to more than 1000 images found by police on his laptop of young boys in May last year.

Judge Turner said after the images were found, Fry told police he had downloaded the images personally, he was looking for images of boys aged between 12 and 14 but was not looking for images of young children because he was not a paedophile.

There was no evidence he shared the images with anyone else, he said.

Crown solicitor Mary-Jane Thomas said the children involved could only be described as victims, with the acts clearly enforced upon them.

Fry was clearly a paedophile and his sentence had to be a deterrent, she said.

Defence lawyer Sonia Vidal said since being in custody Fry had taken steps to address his issues and planned to continue counselling after his release.